Finding Contentment In Everyday Life In Our Little Haven In The Country

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Confessions of our frugal failure & Our Personal Challenge….

I’ve briefly mentioned that our family is working our way to eating more whole/real foods. Well, I’ll admit that we’re having a harder time than I thought breaking our old habits. Granted, we had already started eating less store packaged/canned foods & had been doing this for a while, but over the last year, we’ve managed to fall back into some old habits of not planning ahead enough that we’re not stopping to grab something “quick” to eat through a drive-thru a couple of times a week. Being a frugal person, this always kills me to know how much we were spending each time our family of 5 did this, but I was at a loss as how to stop this vicious cycle since our schedule would remain the same for quite some time. I know better. I think we’ve all fallen back into bad habits & then felt at a loss as to how to get back out of them again. Right?

Well, Brian & I were discussing this very thing yesterday & have decided that we have GOT to change things. And we’re going to to just that. Since I do the majority of the grocery shopping & cooking of meals, I know I can do this. I just have to change my thinking again & get back into my frugal mindset. I love cooking/baking for my family, so this is not a problem. The problem comes in when I don’t plan ahead and make the best use of my time to prioritize making sure that dinner is always prepared ahead of time so that I can either throw it together quickly that evening or in the Crock Pot™ in the morning.

So, for the rest of the month of July, we are going to pledge to not eat out and to keep our grocery budget, including mostly whole/real foods (with as much as possible from the farmer’s market). Our normal grocery budget for our family of 5 is around $400/month. I try to keep under this as much as possible and would love to get it down to $300 during the summer months with all the fresh fruits & veggies available playing a more vital role in our meals. This is always an issue since I have a husband & 2 out of 3 kids that prefer to have meat & potatoes over fresh fruits & veggies. This amount will no include our bulk food order that we will place at the end of the month. Since we are still trying to build up our whole grains, healthy oils, etc., this is still planned for separately. I also do not use coupons since most of what I buy is either Aldi’s store brand, dairy, fresh/frozen fruits/veggies, or from the Dollar Tree™ (toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoos, etc.). That being said, we should be able to easily stay under our budgeted $400. So far this month, I’ve spent $105.26 on:

10 lb russet potatoes

10 lb frozen chicken breasts/thighs

10 lb frozen wings

3 gal milk

4 lb carrots

2 bunches of celery

3 lb onions

4 pints blueberries

3 green bell peppers

10 (8 oz) blocks cheese (different varieties)

4 bags frozen peaches(for smoothies)

3 qts. Heavy whipping cream

1 small container of Greek yogurt (to use as starter for my homemade yogurt)

1 bunch romaine lettuce

1/2 gal buttermilk

Yesterday, I went to the farmer’s market & spent $25 on:

fresh corn on the cob

okra

watermelon

Grand total for the month so far: $130.26.

What we’ve eaten so far this week: Taco salad, spaghetti with sauce with fresh mushrooms

Plans for the rest of the week: Still up in the air, but I’m planning to use some of the chicken I just bought as well as some beef we already have (a grass-fed beef we had slaughtered last fall), plus some of the fresh corn, carrots, mushrooms, etc.

I will need to pick up some more lettuce at some point because I plan to incorporate a few more salads during this hot weather. I want to keep my oven/stove time down to a minimum to keep from heating the house up any more than necessary. I will also be utilizing my Crock Pot™ as much as possible, which I will set outside on the back porch to cook so that it will heat up the outside & not the house.

July Goals/Challenge Recap:

No eating out

All Brian’s lunches will be from home (he will have a small allowance for picking up drinks on the way home this week & next week since he is working 3rd shift & sometimes needs a little boost to get him home – this will not be included, but I will track it)

Utilize the Farmer’s Market for fresh fruits/veggies

Keeping at or below our budget of $400.

Pack snacks to take in the car if I think we’re going to be gone long enough for everyone to become hungry

Buy as little prepackaged items as possible, including fruits/veggies in the stores with their plastic packaging, to keep down on waste

One thing I haven’t really discussed, but should, is the fact that our local county FINALLY has a decent recycling program! Now, instead of just paper, cardboard, some glass, & cans, we can recycle most plastics, glass, etc. It’s wonderful seeing more than half of our waste going to recycling now like it should instead of just to the landfill. I always tried to reduce/reuse/recycle as much as possible, but I can only do so much. Now, we should average about 1 bag of garbage to every 2 bags of recycling. I also now have a compost bin (Yay!), so I’m hoping to continue to reduce our waste even more! There is so much that is either recyclable or compostable that our waste should be almost nothing.

So, follow my family & I as we embark on this journey & challenge. We’ve done it before & used to be very good at it, so I know we can do it again!